


under the iron sea

by Xenon912



Series: Mandalorian!Ezra [2]
Category: Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Imperial, Control Chips, Gen, Imperial AU (Star Wars), Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Implied/Referenced Torture, Inquisitor Sabine Wren, Loss of Identity, Mandalorian Ezra Bridger, Order 66 Aftermath (Star Wars), Repressed Memories, aka the only valid deus ex machina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:47:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28023414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xenon912/pseuds/Xenon912
Summary: Ezra's resolve falters, but Rex will not let him abandon his sister yet.
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex & Clone Troopers, Ezra Bridger & CT-7567 | Rex, Ezra Bridger & Sabine Wren
Series: Mandalorian!Ezra [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1925167
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	under the iron sea

Even through the transparisteel that divided them Ezra could see the bruises.

Sabine paced the length of her cell like a furious, caged nexu, shoulders shaking with rage. They’d stripped her of her armor and her lightsaber, but she’d taken her jacket off herself, revealing the black T-shirt she wore under it. That was how Ezra could see the hand-shaped bruises on her forearms, like someone had been restraining her. He refused to let his mind wander to whatever they could’ve been holding her down for. There lay a path to sure insanity, and, besides, Kanan always said he had to stay in the present.

The girl in front of him seethed, the bruises ignored, snarling at all of nothing in front of her. She still wore her black gloves, and every so often she would card a hand through her dark hair, sweeping her bangs out of her eyes. It was a motion so like their mother it scared him.

“Sabine,” he tried. “I. Um. I brought you a nutribar. Are you hungry?”

“That’s not my name,” was all the response he got, accompanied by a golden glare that just made his chest ache.

“You should eat something,” he said. “It’s been over a day. You must be hungry.”

Sabine stopped pacing, which had honestly been more of his intent. She hunched her shoulders and turned to face him. “Like I’d take food from you, Jedi.”

He dropped it in the delivery device and closed it, watching it tumble onto the tiny table that was built into the wall. “Eat the kriffing bar, _Apprentice._ How are you going to kill me if you’re half-starved?”

Sabine made a sound in her throat that told him he was going to get his head ripped off if she somehow managed to break free, but took the bar. He’d chosen one that they’d swiped off an Imperial shipment, guessing she’d trust it more readily if it had the familiar cog on it. She ripped into it with the same ferocity she’d been pacing the cell with.

Ezra tried very hard not to sigh as he pressed the button that soundproofed her cell again. It had been two days since his mission to Lothal had ended in him dragging an unconscious Inquisitor onto the _Phantom,_ being demoted, and getting his ear yelled off by Kanan. He wasn’t sure there was a single Rebel on the ship who _wasn’t_ mad at him, but that was only annoying on a surface level. They didn’t understand; they couldn’t.

Well, almost all of them couldn’t.

“Hey, kid,” Rex said, leaning against the wall just out of Sabine’s line of sight. “Is she any better?”

Ezra glanced back into the cell. Sabine had finished her bar and gone to sit perfectly still on her bunk, head lowered. “I got her to eat a nutribar,” he said.

“That’s a good sign,” Rex said encouragingly, noting his despondent expression.

“She’s still plotting to kill me, though.”

Rex gave him a look that carefully wasn’t of pity. “She’s brainwashed, Ezra. It’ll take her a lot longer than two days to get past that.”

_“If_ she gets past it,” Ezra added gloomily. “I don’t know if—if there’s _any_ of her left in there. I don’t know what they did to her or what they took from her.”

“They took her autonomy,” Rex told him. “They’ve tried to turn her into a mindless droid. A soldier who blindly follows orders.” He glanced in her direction. “From the state she’s in, I don’t think it worked.”

“They even took her name,” Ezra said raggedly, knowing Rex would understand. “I-I always called her _ori’vod_ _,_ but that—” He kept himself from pointing, knowing she could still see him. “That is not my sister. That is an animal wearing her face.”

“You can’t bring that version of Sabine back,” Rex said sternly. “This is the hand you’ve been dealt. You can try to save what is left of her, _or_ you can let the Empire win. You can let them turn her into an empty shell and condemn her to your memories, or you can give her a chance. She is still in there, Ezra, but the longer you stand here and hate yourself and hate her, the more of her will disappear.”

They stood in silence for a long moment. “Is that what happened to the other clones?” Ezra asked at last. “The ones who didn’t take their chips out. W-was there nothing left of them, eventually?”

Rex nodded once.

**Author's Note:**

> I always thought there wasn't enough mention of how Rex and the rest of the trio felt about basically being the only free survivors of the GAR. It's hard to be the one that survives indeed.


End file.
